Alligator Mound: Geoarchaeological and Iconographical Interpretations of a Late Prehistoric Effigy Mound in Central Ohio, USA

Abstract

Alligator Mound is an animal effigy mound in central Ohio, USA. Since Ephraim Squier and Edwin Davis first recorded and mapped it in 1848, many have speculated regarding its age and meaning, but with remarkably little systematic archaeological investigation. Many scholars have assumed the Hopewell culture (c. 100 BC-AD 400) built the mound, based principally on its proximity to the Newark Earthworks. The Hopewell culture, however, is not known to have built other effigy mounds. Limited excavations in 1999 revealed details of mound stratigraphy and recovered charcoal embedded in mound fill near the base of the mound. This charcoal yielded radiocarbon dates that average between AD 1170 and 1270, suggesting that the Late Prehistoric Fort Ancient culture (c. AD 1000-1550) made the mound. This result coincides with dates obtained for Serpent Mound in southern Ohio and suggests that the construction of effigy mounds in eastern North America was restricted to the Late Woodland and Late Prehistoric traditions. Ethnographic and ethnohistoric analogies suggest that the so-called 'Alligator' might actually represent the Underwater Panther and have served as a shrine for invoking the aid of supernatural powers.

Radiocarbon Dates Reveal Serpent Mound Is More than Two Thousand Years Old

“…Even if Alligator Mound is an effigy mound, however, there are reasons to question whether the dates reported by Lepper and Frolking (2003) reflect when the mound was built. Lepper and Frolking (2003) obtained two radiocarbon dates from Alligator Mound.…”

“…Lepper and Frolking (2003) obtained two radiocarbon dates from Alligator Mound. However, as they explain, "Since we did not recover this charcoal from a discrete feature it is not possible to definitively attribute the results of the radiocarbon dates to a specific event associated with the construction of Alligator Mound" (Lepper and Frolking 2003:158).…”

An Objective Approach to Defining Earthwork Geometries Using Subdecimeter Digital Elevation Models

“…The earthwork site sustained agricultural activities throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries until it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Visually, the current topography of the earthwork is smooth; however, no less than eight excavations are known to have disrupted this surface over the last two centuries (see Lepper & Frolking [2003] for a history of known excavations). Current degradation at the site is limited to slow-acting natural creep processes (e.g., O'Neal, O'Mansky, & MacGregor, 2005), sediment redistribution from burrowing animals (Bernhardt, 1976), slope failures on the southwest edge of the site as a result of quarrying in the mid-19th century (Squier & Davis, 1848), and small disturbances from both foot traffic and continued landscaping.…”

“…In this study, topographic data were collected using a terrestrial laser scanner to develop a 5 cm × 5 cm gridded digital elevation model (DEM) of the Alligator Mound effigy earthwork near Granville, Ohio (Figure 1). This earthwork, constructed approximately 800 years ago (Lepper & Frolking, 2003), lies within a 2000 m 2 area on the edge of a steeply sloping bluff. Because the earthwork blends into the underlying natural topography, no single contour line around the mound provides a sufficient depiction of its planform perimeter.…”

Fractal Worlds: An Archaeology of Nested Spatial Scales

“…Not only archaeologists attend to such changes in scale: the past people we study did so too, manipulating these changes for aesthetic effect, or to illuminate other kinds of meaningful structure. Reduced figurative depictions in sculpture, parietal art, decorated ceramics, figurines, toys, and jewelry perhaps most readily spring to mind (all but figurative ceramic decoration date from the Upper Paleolithic), but plays on scale also expand outward to include planned urban spaces (Smith, 2007) and geoglyphs like the Late Woodland Period effigy mounds of Eastern North America (Lepper and Frolking, 2003).…”